The Charm of a Snowman
by StarryDreamer01
Summary: Martina Kent reflects on Clark & Lois' first Christmas as an engaged couple. DI Christmas 2010 Ficstravaganza prompt.


**A/N: I wrote this story for a Christmas fanfic challenge at DI for a poster named Hodgepodge. My prompt had been a picture of a snowman and season 10 Clois. The middle bits of the story had come early on in the writing process, but the bookends were a result of one night where I'd been watching a bunch of vlogs on YouTube by _charlieissocoollike_ and his friend, _nerimon_, who are both teens (check them out, they're pretty fun to watch!). In any case, inspiration struck and since I just love writing for Martina, I couldn't resist throwing her in to the mix. If you want to read more about her history with Lois & Clark, check out my other one shot "Teenage Drama".**

**Anyway, Hodgepodge, I hope you enjoy my secret Santa gift to you and Merry Christmas to all!**

**Please leave reviews :)**

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_December, 2027_

Martina stared into the small lens that sat atop her laptop's screen. Giving a heavy sigh, she opened the program that allowed her to record herself. She'd rarely used that program and it took her a minute to remember where it was located among her files. Her family valued their privacy and there was something invasive about putting her life on camera, out there for the world to see.

She glanced briefly at the framed photo of her family that was perched on her bookshelf. It had been taken on her sixteenth birthday when they'd gone to Gotham. Her dad had pretty much spoiled her, turning a blind eye as she and her mom shopped at expensive stores and ate at the most decadent restaurants. She chuckled lightly remembering her dad in his ill-fitted flannel shirt and dark-rimmed glasses. The store clerks had glared at them suspiciously, wary that they'd be tire kickers—trying everything on and buying nothing. It wasn't until her mother threatened a Daily Planet-style expose about their discriminatory sales practices that the clerks shuffled into action.

The house was unusually silent. Her mom had called earlier saying that she was putting the final touches on a story and would be late; her dad was out on Superman duties. Martina decided it was the perfect opportunity to finally begin her English assignment. For their media unit each student had been asked to mimic the video blogs that littered YouTube. They could choose any topic, but it had to be significant to their lives.

It was a task easier said than done, especially when one was the daughter of a superhero. Martina puffed her cheeks and blew out a large breath of air; her bangs flew upward and landed haphazardly across her forehead. She could easily talk about the novels she'd read, the television shows she watched, the sports she played, but none of it seemed unique or special. If only she could find a way to talk about her parents. Martina's life under their care was—to the casual observer— certainly unusual. Lois Lane-Kent and Clark Kent had adopted her when she was a toddler and managed to hide the fact that her father doubled as Superman for much of her life. Once they'd revealed the truth it seemed as though nothing was off limits. She'd flown high above the clouds (much to her mother's chagrin), felt the rush of the wind in her hair as she travelled miles in seconds and was able to meet most of the infamous Justice League members. It was a life most teenagers would kill to have, to be sure.

Yet, while her peers were no doubt easily piecing together videos about the latest trends, celebrities and movies, Martina sat stumped before her computer debating what to speak about.

She could talk about the time Bruce Wayne came to dinner and brought her a signed copy of her favourite book. But then she'd have to explain why Bruce Wayne dined at the Lane-Kent house.

Then there was the time she'd watched a lunar eclipse while standing on the Great Wall of China. But then she'd have to explain how she was able to return to Metropolis less than 2 hours later.

Or she could explain how she was able to see the lost city of Atlantis and had ridden on the back of a humpback whale. But no one would believe that for a second.

Martina absently fingered the gold charm that rested at the base of her neck and bit the corner of her lip. A jagged piece on the charm struck at her fingertip. In an instant she had an idea.

She moved her mouse toward the record button and began to film. She directed her eyes toward the lens, squared her shoulders and began.

"My name is Martina Kent and sometimes in order for us to understand ourselves, we have to understand that which brought us to where we are today. My video blog is about love." She smiled and held up her charm to the camera. "And it's about a snowman."

**...**

_December, 2010_

Clark watched from across the kitchen table as Lois banged her fingers along the keyboard of her laptop. Every so often she would groan or mutter under her breath, her face flushing the more she clicked her mouse.

"You seem stressed, Lois," Clark remarked, his words chosen carefully.

"It's a story I'm working on," she replied tersely, almost absently. Her words were methodical; her eyes never left the screen in front of her.

Clark rose from his seat where he'd been reviewing documents that Victor Stone had passed along to him. "Anything I can help you with?" He asked, coming behind her.

With a quick click of the mouse, Lois looked up, a flash of guilt rushing across her face. The Daily Planet logo enveloped the screen; whatever she'd been working on was now hidden.

"Lois…!"

"What?"

He pointed to her computer screen and narrowed his eyes. "What are you hiding?"

Lois shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what you're talking about Clark," she remarked innocently.

"Are you working on that story about the mayor's fraudulent charity fund?" He cocked his head and looked at her with consternation. Lois Lane had a penchant for finding danger even where none was certain to be found.

Lois pursed her lips and looked down at her desk, hiding her face. She could never lie to Clark; he always managed to see right through her. This was one of those times that she knew that her face would expose every thing she'd been trying to keep hidden from him.

"Lois!"

"What, Clark?" She said exasperated, afraid that her next words would reveal the truth of what she was really working on. "What do you want me to tell you? That I'm not working on a story that's going to get me the front page?"

Clark sighed. Lois was incorrigible. "At the very least tell me if you're going to go and do anything… Lois-y."

"I promise."

"Lois. Christmas is two days away. I don't want to be spending it in the hospital helping you fill out insurance forms."

With a roll of her eyes she replied, "I swear. No monkey business." Lois raised her eyebrows and motioned toward her screen. "Now if you don't mind…"

With a glance out the kitchen window an idea popped into Clark's head. "I'm going to go and plow the walkway."

Distantly, she nodded, oblivious to the absurdity of his statement. "Be safe. See you later." She returned to her computer leaving Clark to glance quizzically at her. Clearly she was so entrenched with her work she hadn't remembered that he'd plowed the walkway earlier that morning. With a shrug of his shoulders he grabbed his heavy winter coat and the keys to the barn and headed out the door, snow swirling lightly around him.

Lois breathed a sigh of relief once the door slammed behind Clark. While she desperately loved him, his penchant for unnecessarily worrying about her was seriously hindering her hunt for the perfect Christmas gift. A hint of sunlight caught itself on the new diamond ring that sat upon her finger and it caused her to sigh. After Clark had surprised her with a proposal on that chilly night by their phone booth, Lois knew that she had to come up big for Christmas. Only her attempts had been futile. She'd made Clark swear he wouldn't get her anything for Christmas after he'd no doubt spent his entire month's wage and any profits he'd earned from this year's harvest on the ring. In exchange, she promised up, down and sideways that she wouldn't get him a gift either, but promises were meant to be broken… especially where Christmas gifts were concerned.

While it was the 23rd, Lois knew exactly what she wanted to get him. It was a watch to replace the one he'd buried along with his hardened feelings of the past a few months back. She'd seen the perfect one in an advertisement that had run in the Features section of the Daily Planet. It had a built-in compass and a dual clock. No matter where he was he'd be able to find home. When she'd seen the ad, she'd had to stop herself from tearing the page right out. Had she, Clark's curiosity would've surely led to him finding out what'd been removed and ultimately her intentions for Christmas.

No, it was best left a surprise. Only the closer the 25th came, the less possible it was to find the watch. She'd scoured countless websites, called every store from Metropolis to Gotham and had had no luck. She'd even begged Ollie to call on favours; nothing seemed to work. As the hours ticked by her mood slipped from hopeful to hopelessly frustrated.

_Ping!_

An instant message popped up on her screen, the small blue box flashing intermittently a golden hue.

**Oliver Queen:** Got your watch. Dinah found one in Star City. I'm headed there now; won't be back until the 26th though. No big deal…?

Lois' heart soared at the news. She sat upright and immediately took to her keyboard.

**Lois Lane:** No! I'll see if I can get Clark to take me there. This may take some convincing. Must have before Christmas!

**Oliver Queen:** Happy convincing, Legs!

Lois shut the lid to her laptop and took a moment to survey her options. Somehow she needed to convince Clark to take her to Star City, but needed him to do it without question. This was not going to be an easy feat.

With a renewed sense of determination she pulled on her boots and grabbed her coat and scarf from the stand next to the door, forgoing gloves or a hat. She threw the door open and was greeted with a gust of wind that chilled her to the bone.

"Clark?" She called out; the glare of the sun against the brilliant white snow momentarily blinded her.

"Over here," he replied at her left. She turned and found Clark packing snow against what was clearly on its way to becoming an oversized snowman.

"What in the world-?"

"Do we have any carrots?" He asked, simply.

Shaking her head in disbelief, she replied: "I'm not sure… Clark?" He looked up from his work, his black coat dusted with white flakes of snow. "What's with the snowman?"

"It's your Christmas gift," he said matter-of-factly as though his reply made all the sense in the world.

Christmas gift! In her haze of finding Clark reliving his youth, she'd forgotten why she was standing in the bitter cold. "I need you to take me to Star City."

"First: the carrot."

She easily compiled. Under normal circumstances she'd probably have stood there and argued with him until he relented, but her confusion over the snowman, the carrot request and the fact that this was _her Christmas gift_ halted her common sense. She stepped backward and into the house, her mind swimming.

Lois quickly grabbed a carrot from the vegetable box in the fridge and returned outside. She moved her scarf up to her nose in a feeble attempt at protecting it from the wind.

"Your carrot," she offered, her words muffled by the scarf. She tugged it away from her mouth. "Why are you making a snowman? Have you suddenly regressed back to your childhood?"

"Did you know that the snowman was supposed to be a symbol of how the industrial and agricultural sectors of our society can be affected by even the simplest snowfall?" Clark explained, ignoring her questions. "That's why we use coal for its eyes and a carrot for its nose." He pushed the carrot into middle of the face of the snowman.

"Really?"

"Nah," he said with a laugh. "I just made that up right now."

Lois' eyes widened and she punched him lightly in the shoulder, laughing alongside him. "Are you going to tell me what the snowman is for or am I to just assume that you've lost your mind?"

"It's part of your Christmas gift."

"You built me a snowman?"

Clark tilted his head and smiled, pulling Lois closer toward him, his gloved hand resting at her hip. "Let's just say it's part one of your gift." With a slight movement of his free hand he opened his palm and a golden necklace fell loosely into the air, hanging from his finger; a snowman charm pulling it lightly toward the ground.

"Clark! I told you no gifts!" She protested. "The ring was more than enough."

"I couldn't help myself," he insisted. "You've been so busy and caught up in whatever it is that you're working on, that we haven't really had a chance to enjoy our first Christmas together as a… non-awkward, non-newly dating couple." Lois laughed. It was true, last Christmas they'd been an awkward mess of a couple, trying to navigate the ins and outs of their first Christmas _together_. Now, here they were, engaged.

"And the snowman…?"

"Do you remember what we did last Christmas to get over that awkwardness?"

Lois smiled, remembering the previous year. "We built a snowman. Right here, in your front yard."

Clark nodded and with a sly smile he added, "And then you shoved snow down the back of my shirt."

"Hey, you threw a snowball at me first, it was fair play."

"But do you remember what you blurted out when we were drying ourselves out in front of the fire place?"

"That I wished we'd had kids around so that they could enjoy the snow as well." Lois kicked at a clump of snow, her face turning red. "God, I was so embarrassed. I still am! I'm shocked you didn't run immediately in the opposite direction."

"I thought it was sweet. But you did suddenly remember a source you had to call." Clark laughed. "You bolted out the door so fast…!"

"I always manage to avoid the awkward don't I?"

"Yeah, but it's cute." He pressed his lips against her forehead and tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. Lifting her hand, Clark moved to place the necklace into Lois' palm when he realized that she hadn't been wearing any gloves; she was no where near as dressed for the cold weather as he was. "C'mon. Let's go inside," he suggested. "I'll make you some hot chocolate." He took her free hand in his own and led her into the house leaving behind the snowman in favour of warmer accommodations.

"What did you say about Star City earlier?" Clark asked as they cleared the threshold into the kitchen.

Lois' mouth fell agape. She'd forgotten, _again_! All in the span of what must have been two minutes. She watched as Clark began to fill a kettle with water, her fingers running the along the edge of the snowman charm that now lay at the base of her neck. The last thing she wanted to do at this moment was run off to Star City…

"I needed to get your Christmas present," she said simply and honestly. "It was what I was working on earlier… and all week for that matter."

"So there wasn't a story?" Lois shook her head. "I thought we said no gifts?" Clark teased as he opened a cupboard and reached for the canister of cocoa.

"It's not like you listened either!"

"We're quite the pair, aren't we?" He shook his head in laughter. "Can't Ollie pick it up for you? He was supposed to go there to see Dinah anyway."

Lois hunched her shoulders, leaned against the kitchen counter and considered his suggestion. The farmhouse was so warm and then there was Clark standing before her in his red and green plaid shirt making her hot chocolate…With a sly smile, Lois stood straight and pulled at her jacket. "You're right," she said with a nod of her head. "I've got a better idea for a Christmas present for you, anyway."

With a full kettle in one hand and cocoa in the other, Clark looked at her quizzically, trying to read her face. "Better than hot chocolate?"

"Better than hot chocolate."

** ...**

_December, 2027_

"The story always seems to stop at that point. Honestly I'm not sure I want to hear the rest of it anyway." Martina grimaced and shook her head. "All I know is that Dad didn't end up getting the watch for Christmas morning. Mom ended up having Uncle Ollie to drop it off on the 26th after all. I try not to think about why." She shrugged her shoulders awkwardly and then waved her hands in front of her face. "It's probably better that I stop talking about that right now."

"Anyway there you have it. The story behind my snowman charm; it's the very same one my Dad gave to my mom their first Christmas together as an engaged couple. I swear my parents tell it every Christmas." Martina rolled her eyes and rested her chin into the palm of her hand, her elbow leaning against her desk. Looking straight into the camera lens, she confessed, "I would never in a million years admit this to them, but I kind of secretly love that story. I mean don't get me wrong, my parents are totally disgusting with the way they behave around each other 95% of the time." She made a sickly face to the camera. "With all kissing and… ugh, stuff you'd think _they_ were the ones who were teenagers."

With a light laugh, she continued. "But I'm glad they're my parents…. in spite of it all. They gave me the charm when I was old enough to play in the snow and build my own snowman. I've worn it ever since. They told me to pass it on to my own kid." She paused, her eyes widening with laughter. "Which according to my Dad will be when I'm 65. And if he has it his way, my kid will arrive by stork."

"People always ask me what it's like being the daughter of a star investigative reporter and a… of two star investigative reporters," she corrected quickly. "Everyone always figures that life is constantly full of adventure, and it is—sometimes. But for the most part, I think it's like every other family. We eat dinner together, tell jokes, we play cheesy board games. They catch me sneaking out on occasion, I get grounded, and I sneak out when I'm grounded…" Martina pursed her lips, stopping herself before she could continue further. "What I'm trying to say is that even in the Lane-Kent house, things are normal. We even still build snowmen outside on occasion."

With a final glance toward the camera and her cursor positioned on the "end recording" button, Martina smiled and added, "Merry Christmas," thereby bringing an end to her assignment.

**.:FIN:.**


End file.
